Friday, August 24, 2007

Are movie posters going too far?

This article, featured on Wizard Universe, was also featured in the latest issue of Wizard magazine. I was hoping they'd have this up online so that I could post it here, since I thought it was a pretty good article.

Take a look at the last poster of Jessica Alba in particular.

POSTER WILDAre movie posters going too far?By Chris Harnick

Posted August 23, 2007 9:35 AM

The latest batch of eye-catching, sometimes stomach-churning (and often provocative) movie posters isn’t going unnoticed by fans—or censors. While some of you may be covering your walls in “Hostel: Part II” posters or using Jessica Alba as your desktop, not everyone likes the new trend.

“Captivity” sparked controversy when ads featuring Elisha Cuthbert being tortured in various ways hit both coasts in March. The MPAA slapped After Dark Films with an unprecedented suspension of the flick’s rating process.

The “Hostel: Part II” poster featuring a close-up on meat not only offended vegetarians, but carnivores as well. However, the international poster was approved by the MPAA for use in America.

Looking at the “Hostel: Part II” poster featuring a naked Bijou Phillips (yes, that’s really her body), it’s pretty easy to see why it garnered public outrage—and why it’s an ultra-limited collector’s edition.

The original poster of “The Hills Have Eyes 2,” featuring a hand clawing out of a body bag, was deemed too violent by the MPAA. According to their rationale, a closed body bag is less unsettling.Jessica Alba appears too hot to handle a suggestive ice cream cone in posters for “Good Luck, Chuck.” The ice cream, dripping down Alba’s hand, has riled many critics over its phallic implications.

Here's my take on all these posters.

I personally find nothing offensive about the Captivity poster and that first Hostel II poster with the close-up of the meat. What's so wrong with showing Elisha Cuthbert being frozen in carbonite a la Han Solo in Empire Strikes Back? I believe Wizard showed that poster not because it was offensive, but rather the actual trailers showed gruesome depictions of Cuthbert being tortured.

And I personally don't see how a close-up of meat would offend vegetarians...call me stupid, but I just can't get that. Aren't we all made up of meat anyway? How in the world can that picture offend CARNIVORES?!

Uh...don't see how the poster for The Hills Have Eyes 2 could be too violent. You don't see anything violent at all happening in the poster...stop overusing one's imagination! I suppose, yes, the second Hostel II poster could cause outrage. Outrage that they decided to show the tits of waif-thin Bijou Phillips instead of someone more...stacked. :p

And the Jessica Alba poster really IS very suggestive and I can understand why groups that didn't include hot-blooded males as part of their memberships would be outraged at such a sexually explicit poster. That poster does seem very graphically suggestive, doesn't it? I'm sure hot blooded males everywhere protested when they decided to ban that poster. And I'm sure the more deviant of that species would be putting that particular poster somewhere in their rooms and...well, let's not go there or state the obvious. :p

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